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Modernist Homes of Hong Kong

Hong Kong may be the last place you’d imagine tree lined streets of modernist villas, however, tucked away amidst the heavily built-up Kowloon, lies a hilly enclave of 50s architecture.

Kadoorie Hill has a fascinating history. Hong Kong Engineering & Construction Co. purchased a bare hillside at the junction of Argyle Street and Waterloo Road in Kowloon in 1931 whilst under the control of the Kadoorie family. The site had multiple uses as the city of Hong Kong grew around it. During the occupation of Hong Kong in WWII the properties were used by Japanese forces, and after the war the British Army and Royal Air Force moved in.

Civilian tenants started returning in 1946.

Kadoorie Hill

During the 1950’s an extensive site development programme was undertaken so that by the end of the decade the Estate comprised 57 houses and 35 apartments. The tenants were principally corporate, trading, shipping and aviation interests, reflecting the growth of Hong Kong at that time. One individual tenant, who leased a new house in September 1953 at HK$1,000 per month, is still resident in the same property almost 60 years later.

Kadoorie Hill

According to Sir Michael Kadoorie, son of business tycoon and Kadoorie Hill founder, Lawrence, “the Kadoorie Estate remains an oasis of tranquility amidst Hong Kong’s dramatic development of the last 80 years.”

Remarkably, all residents of Kadoorie Hill, now attracting Hong Kong’s media and entertainment elite, remain tenants with the precinct, including its wonderful gardens, maintained by a single body corporate.